


Charming And Dangerous

by Book_hunting



Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: Dead Parents, Developing Friendship, Eventual Romance, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Homophobia, I have done research but if I am getting things wrong please please let me know, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Queer Characters, The Brotherhood is a family, mild depictions of violence, slightly less mild depictions of mental illness, standard stuff for an action cartoon, they bully the shit out of each other but they wil throw down for one another, to clarify Lancitty and Amara/Tabby are minor relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25283647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Book_hunting/pseuds/Book_hunting
Summary: Jacelynn was here for two things: stealing peoples' stuff and chewing bubblegum. And the Brotherhood was not financially stable enough to support consistently buying bubble gum.Jacelynn is a young mutant who has fully embraced her powers, and the edge it gives her on life. She could look like anyone, and could force people to do anything for her - just by speaking the words. The next thing she needs to accept is the fellow delinquent mutants her mentor is forcing her to live with.I'm crossposting this story from fanfiction.net
Relationships: Amara Aquilla/Tabitha Smith, Lance Alvers/Kitty Pryde, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Pietro Maximoff/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. That Fateful Night

**Author's Note:**

> As I mentioned in the summary; this was originally posted on fanfiction.net.   
> I'm reposting here but editing all the early chapters to my liking. If you felt so inclined you can go read the old version but it's not...great. At least in the beginning. Also the first 2 chapters are very different
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy!

“I’m home Jacelynn!” Marco Dionnis called out, shutting the door to their apartment behind him. 

Normally, she’d have already bounded around the corner and launched herself at him before he’d opened the door the whole way. 

Instead, he was greeted with silence and a mostly dark home.

Marco couldn’t help but feel a little concerned. He ditched his coat and slowly made his way into the space. “Jacelynn? Are you home?”

He flicked the light on and was met with just the furniture of their living room. There weren’t even the usual tiny specks of popcorn on the wood coffee table, a tell-tale sign that his daughter had been there. 

He started to wonder if something bad had happened, his steps becoming quicker as he made his way around their space. “Jacelynn?” He tried again, reaching for the kitchen light switch.

As he flicked the switch; two things happened. One, unsurprisingly, was that the lights turned on. The second was that from out of nowhere he felt someone jump onto his back, clinging to his shoulders and shouting “Boo!”

He stumbled forward on the impact but kept his footing, and despite the fact that he was now supporting another person, he felt the tension evaporate from his shoulders.

“You’re getting too good at surprising me, _topolina_ ,” he laughed. “I had no idea where you were.”

“I’ve been practicing!” His daughter chirped back, jumping down onto the floor. “And I’m getting better at hiding my eyes too.

He turned and got a glimpse of the blue eyes illusion she had been using on herself before it fades into the uncannily bright violet eyes that he knew she would glow like a light in the dark. She used to scare the shit out of him when she woke him up in the middle of the night when she was younger. So would his wife when she woke up, since she shared the same trait

“That you are! I bet it won’t be long now until you can disguise your whole self,” he replied, ruffling her hair some. 

She grinned. “Hey, mom is back too, right?”

“She’ll be here in a few minutes. You should go wash up though, she’s bringing home dinner for us.”

“Oooh, from where?”

“It may or may not be a place that rhymes with ‘Ronald’s’.”

“Hell yeah!” She pumped a fist in the air and scampered off to the washroom. He shook his head, a smile on his face. The boundless energy of his twelve-year-old never ceased to amaze him

**Six Months Later**

Jacelynn is sprawled across her living room couch, eating popcorn with one hand, and the other pressing hard on her remote’s fast forward button to skip through the commercials at the start of her DVD of _Romeo + Juliet._

She hadn’t been home for that long, and the ache in her muscles from a rather gruelling gymnastics practice had yet to go away. She had been doing gymnastics for what felt like forever, and it was only a year or so after that she was put into mixed martial arts classes twice a week. Her mom had always stressed the importance of being well-rounded, and that was her reasoning for putting in these types of activities at such a young age. But Jacelynn was pretty sure it was to keep her busy, and occupied. To fill in some of the time her parents were gone. 

It would be for a few days sometimes, or even a full week or two. Sometimes, they would call her nightly, to ask about her day and see how she was doing. Other times, she was lucky to get an email. That was just the nature of their work.

That work was... less than legal. They never went into details, but she had pieced together not all that long ago that they were, in fact, criminals. Thieves. Experts at breaking into places they shouldn’t be, and taking things that weren’t theirs. 

Her parents had been equal parts concerned and impressed when she confronted them about it. They did their best to lie, of course, but considering that she had overheard them planning, they didn’t exactly have a great case. But that didn’t matter.

Jacelynn thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

Sometimes, her dad would regale her with the stories of their epic heists and breakneck getaways. Her mom would watch action movies with her and point out the inaccuracies. She wanted nothing more than to join them on a mission one day, when she was older. 

So that made two large family secrets her parents entrusted her with keeping: their profession, and the fact that they were all mutants. 

That was never something they could hide from her - and they often had to remind her that while people used the phrase “glowing eyes” a lot figuratively, people would still find it strange to see them. Her mom, who shared the trait with her, would know, as she often wore contacts when going out to mitigate the effect. So it was no surprise when her powers began to manifest at the age of ten. That was evident the day her parents came home to find their daughter appearing to be blonde and blue-skinned. 

Her mom could melt into the shadows - and she cheated wildly when playing hide and seek when Jacelynn was a kid, and her father could make bolts of lighting jump from his fingertips. Not that she got to see it often, he was very reluctant to use what he deemed very destructive around her.

Which was _lame,_ if you asked her. But her parents were nothing if not stubborn and she never made much ground on the matter.

As she reached for another handful of popcorn, her eyes glanced over the clock. The screen displayed 6:59 in digital red font.

 _An hour late?_ She thought to herself. _They’d better be bringing home dinner._

They’d been gone what, a week now? She was running out of the pre-cooked dinners her mom had made for her before they left, and Jacelynn tried to avoid cooking herself as much as possible. No matter what she tried it never tasted right.

Finally, past the commercials and at the opening scene, she pushed the topic from her mind as she nestled into the couch. _They’ll be here soon. Might as well just enjoy having the whole couch to myself._

Just as Mercutio and Tybalt were trading blows, there was a knock at the door.

She jumped up, pausing the movie and bounded over to the door, long black hair swinging wildly behind her. _If they’re knocking it means their hands are full of food!_

Jacelynn pulled open the door, only for her excitement to be replaced with confusion. “Mason?” She questioned.

Mason was a familiar sight in her life. He was her godfather and a longtime friend of her parents. He wasn’t all that much taller than her, but his dark brown and exceptionally curly hair added a bit to his height. He looked at her through thick-framed glasses, a deep sadness in his features, made all the more apparent by his puffy, red eyes, glistening with unshed tears.

“Mason? What - what’s wrong?” She asked, a pit developing in her stomach. “ Is everything okay?”

He shook his head, a shaky arm coming to rest on her shoulder. “Jacelynn… I’m so sorry. Something horrible has happened.” His voice was hoarse and raw.

It felt like there was ice in her blood. The horrible sense of dread crept up to her, and she could barely get the next words out. “Where are my parents?”

“I’m so sorry,” he repeated, and Mason, who hated even standing close to other people, enveloped her in a hug.

He didn’t have to say anything more.

She realized.

Pressed up against his shoulder, Jacelynn started to cry.


	2. Spiraling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which she deals with the fall out, and is introduced to one shapeshifting mutant

If it were a movie, it would be raining.

But it wasn’t. Instead, it was a beautiful, sunny, cloudless day when her parents were buried. 

It felt like the universe was mocking her. 

She stood solemnly, Mason’s hand on her shoulder. She blinked, long and hard. She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t going to look so weak in front of a dozen strangers she barely recognized.

* * *

  
  


Not long after that, she was moved into Mason’s apartment, just before the start of school.

Days bled into one another, most spent lying on her new bed, staring up at the foreign ceiling. 

Occasionally, Mason could coax her out to have dinner. A conversation, if he was lucky.

Gradually, she ventured out of her room a little more, spoke to her guardian slightly more often.

Started to pick up the pieces.

On the morning of her first day of 8th grade at a new school, Mason stood by the front door, hand hovering over the doorknob. “You ready to go kid?”

Jacelynn walked into view, indigo backpack slung over her shoulder. “Should be.”

He scanned her face, and his eyebrows furrowed. “Are your eyes blue?”

“Hopefully. Is it convincing?”

“Yeah, yeah. But why?”

She shrugged. “You were saying that it’s important I lie low and don’t draw attention to myself, right? Thought it would be best if I didn’t have weird eyes.”

“That’s a good idea, kid. Alright, let’s get going so you’re not late on your first day.”

Satisfied that he took that answer, she followed him out the door. He didn’t need to know that looking at the eyes that reminded her of her mother in the mirror made her sick to her stomach.

* * *

“Here,” Mason had said to her, “Ten bucks. I need you to buy bread on your walk home tonight. You can use the change to buy yourself a treat if you want.”

He was trying to cheer her up, she was pretty sure. She’d been doing pretty well with her “pretend everything was okay” facade - but it was her dad’s birthday at the end of the week, something she couldn’t stop reminding herself. It had put a damper on her streak to say the least.

So with her school bag slung over her shoulders, she waltzed into the little convenience store up the street from their apartment. She had pushed herself pretty hard at gymnastics today, and that combined with her general down mood, she couldn’t say she was opposed to a small reward for herself.

She grabbed some of her favourites and was about to head up the counter when she spotted an interesting package - a limited-edition flavour of a candy she happened to enjoy. Her hand was reaching for it when she noticed the price. After a quick mental calculation, she realized she didn’t have enough money to get it too.

She was disappointed for a moment, but then a half baked idea popped into her head. 

She didn’t  _ have _ to pay for it.

Spurred on by the innate teenage need to rebel and the secret part of her that always hoped to be like her parents one day, she discreetly stuffed it into her backpack. Then, another candy, and another.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she approached the cashier, holding probably half of the product she had on her person. Yet, she managed a genuine polite smile, and returned the cashiers casual small talk without her voice betraying her. Her nerves were starting to get the best of her - each second it took him to count out her change seemed to stretch for an eternity - and she had to steel herself from dashing out of there the second he told her to “ have a good day.”. 

The second the little store is out of sight breaks into a run, giggling to herself as she made her way home. She felt so accomplished, high off of adrenaline and confident. 

If this was the rush that she got for doing something so small - what did it feel like getting away with better things?

Maybe she should try her hand at this thing, she thought to herself.

  
  


It becomes a hobby, then a habit. Working her way up to larger and larger things - and soon she was a bonafide pickpocket. If she spent the better part of an afternoon at the mall, she was almost always able to walk away with a good hit. She only got caught once, when she was a little overzealous and tried to steal something with an officer just around the corner. She got off with just a warning, at least, and all Mason had to say to her was “Don’t draw too much attention to yourself.”

* * *

  
  


Outside of her casual stealing, she maintained the appearance of a normal pre-teen girl. Mostly for her own benefit at school, she couldn’t handle being looked at with pity by other students or being seen as fragile by her teachers. She wasn’t some five-year-old crybaby, so she put an effort into pretending she was fine now. Back to normal. Did her best to hide the fact that it only took a couple of bad thoughts or a glimpse too long in the mirror to send her into a panicking, sobbing mess. At home it was easier to hide, Mason was too buried in his own work to ever really notice, and when he did pay attention to her it was usually to reprimand her for something - but she had been managing.

She got along decently with her classmates. Of them, she would only call a girl named Evie her friend. They had gymnastics together as well, and sometimes they would get ice cream after, or wander the nearby park. Sometimes Andrew, Evie’s boyfriend also in their class would tag along whom she liked a lot less. He was nowhere close to being the most attractive guy in class - at least in Jacelynn’s humble opinion - and he had a shitty sense of humour. Considering Evie was a very pretty, talented and outgoing blonde, Jacelynn was beyond convinced Evie could do  _ so _ much better.

So when, one day alone at the park, the girl asked her to do some “kissing practise”, Jacelynn might have been a little too eager to oblige.

In hindsight, that might have been a bad idea. 

Jacelynn ended up making two pretty crucial mistakes the following day: the first was ignoring the angry glowers at her from Andrew throughout the day, and ignoring the fact that he and two of his friends just happened to be walking in the same direction. The second was, after having clued in, the fact she stopped, turned around, and asked “Can I help you?”.

“Yeah,” he replied, “I need you to do something for me,”

“So badly you needed to follow me home?” There were alarm bells going off in the back of her head - this was a side street that was quiet at the best of times, the sun was setting and this kid had a pretty good reason to be mad at her. 

“I need you to stay the fuck away from my girlfriend,” he said, advancing forward.

“Listen,” she sighed, “That was a bad choice and we shouldn’t have-”

“I don’t care what you have to say you’re a disgusting dyke and-”

“What the hell?” she shot back, “That’s uncalled for -  
“You’re a fag and you made my-

“I didn’t make her do shit! She kissed me, probably because you’re so bad at it,” she barely got the sentence out before he was swinging a fist at her face. It was sloppy, fuelled more by rage then technique, and she easily moved out the way. And she could have left it there, booked it home and put a locked door between them.

But Jacelynn was nothing if not self-destructive.

If they wanted a fight, a fight they were going to get.

So as he stumbled she jammed her elbow into his shoulder and brought her foot up to his knee. When he hit the ground, she turned to the other two.

Jacelynn was not a bad fighter, even at that age - she had been doing martial arts twice a week for the past five years. But she was still young, still learning, and it was three of them against one of her. 

She landed good hits - even got one of them square in the nose - but she wasn’t going to be able to dodge everything. One bad punch to her stomach had her stumbling backwards into one of them, who grabbed her arms and pinned them behind. 

“Clean shots, Andrew,” he told him.

She tried to wrench herself free, twist away from his punches - but it was no use. One, two, three good hits to her face, and by the last one that side of her face felt numb. When she opened her eyes her vision was blurry, and there was a sharp pain in her neck from the impact.

“What the hell,” she heard one of them say. “What happened to her eyes?”

“They were blue two seconds ago.”

“What a fucking freak,” she heard Andrew sneer.

She wasn’t really sure what happened next - there was a ringing in her ears and she was trying to focus on maintaining an illusion. But one second she was being held up, the next she was being dropped to the ground. 

She slumped there, one hand on her head, trying to get her bearings on the situation when she heard footsteps. “Are you alright?” asked a woman’s voice.

“...Been better.” she got out, as she looked up. A woman stood over her, with red hair and a look more resembling interest than concern. “Who are you?”

“A friend,” she replied. “Someone who is like you.”

“Like me? In what way?”

“I recognize those eyes, and what they represent,” was all she said, sticking a hand down to her. “Come on - do you live near here? Let me walk with you and answer your questions.”

Jacelynn paused for a moment. She had already made plenty of bad choices tonight, but what was one more? She took the outstretched hand and let the woman help her up. “What’s your name?

“My name is Raven, but the people like us know me better as Mystique.”

* * *

  
  


This  _ Mystique _ spoke at length to her. Told her she was a mutant too - showed Jacelynn her true form, with blue skin and yellow eyes. Tells her that there were dozens more of them out there - some who looked perfectly normal, and some who had marks that showed their otherness, much like them. She asked her if people had ever bullied her over her eyes before.

“No,” she replied honestly, “Never. People sometimes asked me questions but not much else - I think he only insulted them because he was already angry.”

“Did your mother have the same sort of eyes as you?”

The mention of her mom caused a stabbing pain in her chest. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“I knew her. We worked together many times. She was a wonderful woman.”

“Y-yeah. She was.”

“Tell me, Jacelynn. Do you live with a mutant now?”

“No.”

“I’d like to help you, Jacelynn. Help you learn and perfect your powers. Would you like that?”

“I would!”

“Excellent,” she smiled. “Here’s what I’m thinking.”

* * *

“Jacelynn, you’re home late. I - What happened to your face?” Mason questioned as she walked through the door.

She hesitated on exactly how much context she should give. “Um, I uh... Got into a fight.”

He sighs, shaking his head. “Come on Jacelynn, use your head! Doing that sort of stuff is only going to draw attention to yourself.”

“I know, I know,”  _ but I don’t know why _ she thought bitterly, rolling her eyes. She knew from experience though that it was a fruitless endeavour to bring that point up, and she really didn’t want an argument tonight. 

“Go put some ice on that and get cleaned up. I ordered Chinese and it will be here soon.”

* * *

Mason never did ask her why she got into a fight. Andrew and his doofus friends also never spilled the beans to the rest of the class - they probably didn’t want her to turn around and explain how she really got her bruise. Evie stopped talking to her, which was a bit of a shame, but there were only a few months left of the year. She could survive.

For a little while, she had things outside of school to look forward too. She placed silver in a city gymnastics competition - and Mason seemed happy for her when he came to pick her up although not overly interested. There was a cute boy - who did martial arts around the same time she did - who she started talking to, and he soon became her first official boyfriend. They broke things off amicably not overly long after as he found out he was moving states.

Most of all, she looked forward to meeting with Raven. The woman was a fountain of information - and the overlap of their powers meant she provided really good insight. Jacelynn felt she was improving leaps and bounds in such a short amount of time. Mason was noticeably less thrilled about this whole thing, but begrudgingly agreed to let her go. Likely only because he had met the woman before, through her parents.

So when at the end of one such meeting the woman said she was leaving the city, Jacelynn was genuinely devastated. 

“Take this,” the woman said, handing her a piece of paper.

Jacelynn unfolded it, “An address?”

“I’ll be there at the end of August. If you really want to perfect your powers - your skills - find me there. I’ll take you on. Make you a mutant your mother would be proud of.”

Naturally, Jacelynn was ecstatic. She raced home and begged Mason to let her do this.

“Are you kidding?” he replied, ‘I’m not abandoning my work for two weeks to let you run around with high profile mutants to better something you are never going to use. Besides you -”

“ _ Need to keep your head down, _ ” she mocked, “God, you never say anything else! That’s your only argument and you never explain yourself! Not once!”

“I don’t need to explain myself to a child.”

“I’m 14. I am not a kid and I deserve an explanation so I can form my own opinions!”

“I’m not doing this tonight.”

“Yes, you are.”

“You aren’t going and that’s final. And for the record, I’m glad she’s gone.”

* * *

“ _ Why, _ ” Mason demanded one night, “did I just get a call from your gymnastics coach saying you’re suspended from practice for two weeks because of unsuitable behaviour?”

“Suspended for bullshit reasons, actually.”

“Answer the question.”

“It was so stupid - I thought me and this girl were alone in the change room and I kissed her and then my coach came in and got super mad for no -”

“You WHAT?”

“...Kissed a girl?”

Mason was quiet, and he was looking at her in a way she had never seen him look at her before. “Jacelynn,” he asked, “Are you a lesbian?”

“No! Well.. kind of but I like boys so-”

“Oh my god,” he turned away from her, shaking his head, “I knew this was going to happen, I never should have let you around that woman.”

“What do you mean? Raven? She didn’t do-”

“You caught this from her, “ he turned back, looking at her once again, “This isn’t natural Jacelynn.”

“Says who?”

“Society. Common sense. If you start to go down this path -”

“Start?” she laughed, bitterly and angrily, “I’ve been doing this for a while! I’ve kissed almost as many girls as I have guys. Which maybe you would have known about if you ever paid attention!”

“Trust me, I’m paying attention now. You are grounded-”

“What?” she protested “That’s bull-”

“You are grounded and I am taking you to see someone about this. You are messed up, and you need help.”

She leaped to her feet, anger radiating off of her. “No. I. Don’t.” There was nothing Jacelynn feared and hated more than being seen as weak - she was not about to let him force her into a situation where she would feel like that for hours.

“You will be going, or you won’t be living here anymore. And that is final.” With that, he left, slamming the door behind him.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to rein in all of the emotions she was feeling at that moment.

Well fuck. 

Guess she didn’t live here anymore.

* * *

  
  


Jacelynn spent the next few months on the road. She left the city and headed south. The address she was given was in Mississipi - but she knew it was going to take her a while to get there, considering she had little to no money to speak of. 

The streets were a shock to her system at first - she never fully realized the things she took for granted until she was without them - but she adapted quickly. Her powers and her penchant for stealing came in handy there. She was a pretty woman to get the most money from strangers, a strong-looking guy to stay safe in the middle of the night, and a rich blonde when shoplifting because people just didn’t seem to want to accuse them of stealing.

It gets to the point where she was changing her gender presentation not only when it was convenient to her but just when she felt the whim. Some days she woke up normally, some days she woke up and felt like walking around as a guy.

She also picked up on another peculiar talent of hers - one that makes people do what she wants when she tells them too - whether they really wanted to or not. That was intriguing, but she learned quickly she needed to be very careful about wording how she spoke in general because she had no idea how to turn it off so to speak.

* * *

Almost exactly three months to the date she left, she made it to the door. She had checked and triple checked the address and made sure that she used an illusion that looked like her but a little more presentable than she really was.

Mystique was altogether not unsurprised to see her there, but still pleased. From then on Jacelynn was her protege, learning and honing the crafts of combat and pretending to be other people. They would train, and after a certain point, she would accompany Mystique on the lower stakes missions that her mentor’s shadowy boss figure would put them on. 

Jacelynn excelled.  _ This _ was what she was built for, spying and convincing and fighting and beating the absolute shit out of people. Mystique could be harsh at times - she expected perfection and never let Jacelynn forget it. Tough love, with a lot more emphasis on  _ tough _ than  _ love _ . But shit, she paid attention to her - she hadn’t had an adult figure do that since her parents died. And she couldn’t deny the incredible boost of confidence that surged through her when she received her mentor’s infrequent praise.

She travelled frequently with her for a year, before Mystique informed her that they were settling down for the long con in a town in New York called Bayville. This meant that she was, unfortunately, going back to school, and she wasn’t going to be able to roll out of bed and look like whoever she wanted to anymore. 

Gong back to her real appearance was absolutely not an option - she still wanted to break down and cry whenever she caught a glimpse of that her in the mirror - so she had to come with something else. She went with something that looked about as different from herself as possible. The thought of growing into all the features that reminded her so much of her mom was just too much to be

Swapped out straight black hair for brown and wavy; went for a skin tone a few shades lighter, and normal, non-glowing green eyes. From there it was minor adjustments, changing her nose just a little and making herself ever so slightly taller and curvier just because she could. 

She practiced keeping it up, and resummoning as similar as possible. She got it down fairly quickly, and that was the Jacelynn she presented to the student body of Bayville High.

Things were relatively quiet and relatively normal for the next few months. 

That is until Mystique dropped off a short, foul-smelling alien with a really long tongue, and told her this was her new roommate.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the team is assembled

The alien's name was Todd, so she learned. Todd Tolansky. A mutant with toad-like powers and like her, a knack for pickpocketing. But that was roughly where the similarities ended.

They weren't really friends at that point, but they were far from hating each others guts. She would occasionally pull him out of a sticky situation and in return he would do the chores she was assigned when she didn't want to, willingly. Jacelynn wasn't all that sure if Mystique really cared if they got done, but she had seen her mad before and wasn't willing to chance it.

And nothing really happened those first weeks. It was a cycle of school, homework, tutoring to make up for the year where she was schooled more in “how to break a man’s bones” and less in say, math or english.

The day would start with Jacelynn being up hours before him, as not only was Todd not a morning person in the slightest, she was a chronically light sleeper.

The whole house had an older feel to it, and while it was quaint, she went for the room that she felt it was easiest to make modern. One can of deep purple paint later and there was already a noticeable improvement.

She would waste away the remaining hours doing nothing of importance, until she decided it was a semi-reasonable time to head down for breakfast.

Jacelynn would throw on the glamour she had memorised by heart,and head down the stairs to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal, sitting on the counter as the sun rose higher into the sky. Around then Todd would hop down the stairs, mumble an unintelligible greeting, and head out the back door for his breakfast of just straight up bugs. Finishing up she stashed the dishes haphazardly in the sink and went upstairs to her room to get some clothes for the day. Originally she hadn't brought all that much, so she had been steadily expanding it. She would change quickly as by now they were running five or ten minutes late.

She'd brush her hair, rush some eyeliner and start hastily putting her stuff in her bag. If only, she would often bemoan, the classes she actually enjoyed weren’t first thing in the morning. The ones she detested got the luxury of being in the afternoon, and whenever she could she would slip out of the school during lunch to avoid them. She would race down to the bus stop with about a minute to spare, Todd would usually miss it and find some other way to school or give up and spend the day terrorizing insects if it was a monday.

And then it was the regular, 7 hour, four periods and lunch of not paying attention, charming students and "convincing" teachers to not give her whatever assignment she didn't feel like doing, with an ear to the ground for any interesting bit of gossip or news.( It fascinated her, just how hooked on gossip the entire school was, as though it was the blood pumping the beating heart.)

There was always a little bit of something regarding the kids who lived in that giant mansion north of town - mostly just benign speculation from their classmates whenever they were all mysteriously absent on the same day for no particular reason.

She was pretty sure it has something to do with the fact they were all mutants. Mystique had mentioned their group with disdain, and Todd had told her in-depth about his failed infiltration.

At lunch she would usually sit by herself or with Todd on the days he was there, at a very specific table she claimed as her own. Sometimes she stuck around for her afternoon classes, other times the two of them would ditch and instead do whatever struck their fancy. 

  
  


With the addition of Lance, the brotherhood rose to an astounding number of 3 members. And really, for an evil villain team, he was the perfect fit. Tall, strong, and favouring torn clothing and confrontations, he was the picture of a delinquent in the minds of paranoid parents everywhere.

Who, in Jacelynn's mind, was actually a pretty cool dude. He was amicable, he had a decent taste in music  _ and _ also had a car, so they didn’t have to take the bus to school anymore. While the pair of them weren’t exactly best friends, they got along well enough that they jumped right to the platonic bullying stage of friendship. 

“No Lance, you can’t sit there. We have to swap the chairs we sit in counter clockwise each day, and you sat there yesterday.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard.” Lance responded.

“Look, you’re lucky we’re draping tha rotating of the table from the schedule for ya dawg, so I’d cut down on the complaining,” Todd chimed in. Lance groaned, rubbing his forehead, and the other two snickered amongst themselves. 

  
  


Mystique didn’t bother introducing the next member. One evening, Jacelynn went to bed and there were two other people in the house. The next morning, there was a third.

At least this one was a girl. She went by Rogue, and she immediately struck Jacelynn to be the sullen, loner type. Rogue seemed to strongly dislike people in general, but especially them, and especially Todd. Jacelynn only hoped she would chill out enough to be tolerable to be around.

Jace;lynn was quietly pleased at the continued addition in numbers to the house. The more people, the more noise at all hours of the day. And while she would gripe and groan, often with Lance, she was thankful for the chaos. She had been feeling a lot less lonely these past few weeks, and with more things to do and watch, the less likely she would dwell on the past. 

  
  


The next lucky person to join the group of teens was Fred Dukes. A teen from Texas, who’s first appearance at school made everyone’s day more interesting.

“What do you think of the new guy?” Jacelynn asked Todd, leaning against the wall outside the school, waiting for Lance to park his jeep, which took a lot longer then one would think, as he just had to be certain no damage would come to it. That was another benefit of his arrival, no more noisy buses that hadn’t been cleaned for weeks.

“Who, Fred?” he questioned.

“Who else? He is kind of hard to miss,” she said, as Lance walked up to them. 

“He definitely got the go big or go home part of Texas down.” Todd joked. She laughed a little at that. 

“Knock it off you two. He’s part of the team now, and if we are living with him now, you shouldn’t be joking about him behind his back.” Lance said, as they entered the building, hallways lively with activity as everyone was getting to their lockers and classes before the bell rang.

“But that is how we show affection. Insults and sarcasm and jokes!” she complained.

“Well yeah, but not right now, he’s obviously got some issues, and Bayville High isn’t known for being the most inclusive and kind high school around.” Lance said. It was true, the current reign of popular teens weren’t the nicest people, excepting the perfect Jean Grey, who really rubbed Jacelynn the wrong way. And the gossip circle was ruthless, as she knew extensively. 

She really needed a hobby.

“You’re right man. I don’t want to anger that dude, he might eat me!” Todd exclaimed. Jacelynn put her hand over her mouth, trying to muffle the sputtering laughter that was coming out of her. 

Lance shook his head, looking exasperated, but there was a trace of a smile on his face. “That is exactly what you shouldn’t say around him. So stop it, okay?”

He had a point, she had to admit. “Fine, fine. You win. C’mon Todd, let’s go to class. We can see if Mr. Nice Guy is still around by lunch.”

  
  


“Where is my Dracula script?” she mumbled to herself, rifling through the stuff in her locker. It was the play the junior drama class was working on, and she wanted to put some effort in to win the role herself. If she had too, she could pull some strings with Jason, the star student and person organizing everything.

Maybe she stuffed it in Lance’s bag by accident, she hadn’t been paying attention that morning. 

Moving quickly, she went to Lance’s locker, where luckily he was located, leaning against the locker, head turned in the opposite direction.

“Hey, Lance. Did you see my Dracula book in your bag?” she asked.

There was no response.

She took a couple of steps closer, and spoke louder. “ Have you seen my Dracula book?”

Still no response. 

She moved so she was standing next to him, and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Earth to Lance?”

Nothing.

He was staring at something, something that was making him smile slightly. She followed his gaze down the hall, which led her sight to-.

“Her?” she was astounded. Jacelynn connected the dots easily, but it seemed too absurd to make sense. “Kitty Pryde?” she hissed.

That was enough to snap him out of it. “What?”

She put her hand on her forehead, shaking her head. “I can’t believe it. You like Kitty Pryde!” 

Lance went red. “Would you keep it down?” he whispered.

“I’m not sure if I should laugh or be disgusted. Isn’t she fourteen?”

“Actually, she is almost fifteen.”

“....So she is fourteen.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“But- why?”

“Because. She’s just, you know.. “

“I really don’t Lance, it’s why I’m asking.” she reminded in a sweet tone.

“I - why am I trying to explain myself to you!”

“Because I need to know if this is good blackmail or not,” she replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Oh- go away.” He batted an arm at her, which she dodged easily before heading back down the hallway, laughing to herself the whole time.

  
  


“Any of you guys see the locker get ripped off the wall?” Jacelynn asked in between bites of her lunch.

Lance nodded. “Yeah, I did. Freaked a bunch of people out.” He had his eyes closed with his hands behind his head, leaning back like he was trying to sleep.

“You bet. And I think I know who did it.” Todd said, eyeing the new group member. He had already eaten his fill of insects that day.

“Really Todd? I didn’t think it was that obvious. Personally, I was suspecting Miss. Gloom and Doom over here. She can get really riled up, you know?” She responded, voice dripping with sarcasm.

The resident goth scoffed as she continued eating.

“Please, Rogue? I was surprised she could lift her tray.” Todd shook his head. 

Rogue scowled, more then her average scowl, and chucked a cup at Todd. He yelped, ducking down, narrowly avoiding the projectile. Rogue got her tray and walked off in a huff.

“Good job Todd.” Lance sighed.

“Thank you?”

Out of nowhere was a loud thud and suddenly food was flying through the air, landing on Duncan Matthews and his friends. The entire cafeteria went quiet, as if they were all holding their breath. Matthews did  _ not  _ like to be messed with.The source of the food, evidently, was the new guy. The jocks were making their way over to where he was currently sitting on the ground in front of the tipped table, with food all around him.

He tried to get up but slipped, and laughter ricocheted around the room. This set the large boy off. He yelled, taking a glob of food and chucking it at Duncan with enough force to knock him down onto his back. Then another handful, and another, and he was sending the food any direction that he could.

As teenaged logic goes when provided with an opportunity like this, someone yelled _ “Foodfight!” _

And all hell broke loose.

Just for the heck of it, Jacelynn launched some food into the crowd, before halfheartedly sending a tomato from her salad sailing towards Todd.

“Oh, you’re asking for it dawgette!” cried Todd, whipping food at her.

She shrieked, and dove behind Lance to use as a human shield. “Save me!” she yelled, laughing as she did.Lance shook his head, took a moment to send some grey looking mush towards Summers, before taking off, the other two hot on his heels.

It wasn’t until late evening that the two newest recruits showed up at the boarding house. When asked where they were, neither said anything, and walked up to their rooms. 

  
  


Jacelynn sat on top of the counter, nose in her textbook, trying to figure what the hell it was talking about. They had progressed into algebra, and she just couldn’t understand any of it. It had been 2 years since she was introduced to algebra, but she still couldn’t make heads or tails of the subject.

First of all, she had a problem with letters even being in math. Words and letters belonged in English, and numbers belonged in math. There should be no crossing of the two. The second was the concept. It was so confusing, how could she find the answer if there was a letter replacing one of the numbers?

She tried to puzzle it out, but it simply wasn’t happening. Giving up, she shut the textbook and put her head in her hands. Why did math have to be so confusing?

“Having trouble?” questioned Lance.

“No, not at all. I just don’t like the looks of the next units we are covering, they all look long and boring.” Jacelynn said, hoping he didn’t pick up on the lie. She didn’t want her new friends to think she was dumb. She wasn’t, honestly! She just couldn’t fucking do math. 

“That is what school specializes in.” he commented, as the door to Mystique’s office pulls open.

“Come in. We have plenty to discuss.” her tone was brisk and strict, walking back to her desk as the teens filed in.

The five of them took a seat, facing the permanent frowning principal. “Now, we need to discuss some things regarding the future, specifically regarding your gifts as being mutants.” she began

“From this day forward, we are doubling down on training, strict times, harder drills. We need you in the best shape you can be in, because we are in the middle of planning something that can change the fate of the world.” Mystique never specified who the we was when she referred to them. Jacelynn had a foggy idea, involving a powerful mutant, but wasn’t sure.

“Following that, during the summer you’ll be attending a survival camp for a few weeks.” There were loud groans that followed that statement “And I will hear no complaints about it. Towards the end of the summer, our final preparations should be underway, and you will be filled in on our plans. Any questions?” she finishes in a tone that suggests that there should not be any questions.

“Uh, yeah,” piped up Todd, “Are you trying to kill us?” 

‘If I wanted you dead Tolanksy, you would have been buried weeks ago.” Mystique replied dryly. “Now get out of here, I have tasks to perform.”

  
  


When Mystique said they were going to double down on training, she really meant it. It was various exercises, mock fights and different trials using our power to do something.

It was painful, hard, and put Jacelynn at a severe disadvantage because here mutant gifts weren’t combat-related ones. However, they got through the two hours, sore and bruised but in one piece.

“That was the worst three hours of my life.” Todd groaned as the teens finally walked back into the boarding house.

Jacelynn flopped onto the couch. “My entire body hurts.” she groaned. 

“Complaining won’t make it better.” commented Rogue, sitting down and putting her face in her hands.

“, it will. Complaining makes everything better,” she mumbled.

Fred went in to the kitchen. “Anyone want water?”

They all raised their voices in response, having not stopped for a water break for hours. If this was karma coming back to get her for something, she sorely apologized for whatever she did, courtesy of her aching muscles. 

“Well, you are going to have to get used to it, we have the same thing again tomorrow.” Lance reminded us, stretching his right arm in front of him.

Everyone groaned. “Don’t remind ,man!” Todd cried. “I’m not gonna be alive at the end of the week!”

“What a tragedy.” Rogue commented dryly, southern accent drawling as she spoke.

The door was opened with a loud slam in the middle of the conversation, something crashed in the kitchen which meant that Fred probably broke one of the glasses.

A vexed Mystique walked with urgent strides through the door and into the living room, where they sat draped against the various furniture.

Taking a side glance at Mystique, Todd mumbled something about helping Fred clean up, and wisely hopped past her.

You could tell the woman was thinking about something, something that definitely involved the teens, as she took in each of them in a sweeping look. “We are going to have a new member.” she announced.

Side looks of questioning were shared among the teens. “Yay?” Jacelynn spoke out, the exclamation turned more into a question.

“Is the house clean? I need this place to be spotless!” Mystique continued, being vague on the why and the who.

“Yeah, it’s decent,” remarked Lance. “What’s the big deal?”

“Because I want to-” Mystique stopped herself, like she was about to admit something she shouldn’t comment on.

The door slammed open once again, this time letting a gust of wind into the house, stopping right next to Mystique, in the form of a tall, lean, silver haired teenager with an arrogant smirk on his face, as if he didn’t even need to know you, he still knew he was better then you.

“This, is the newest member of the brotherhood.” Introduced Mystique, and disappeared out of the room, like she didn’t want to even be in the same room as her team.

“The name’s Pietro. I guess you guys are the losers I’ve been told about.” The newcomer said, looking at the worn-out others.

“Losers? We aren’t losers! We’re cool.” protested Todd.

“Cool _ now, _ because you’re going to be hanging around me.” Pietro corrected, “ Because I’m kind of the universe’s gift to mutantkind.”

“Humble _ and  _ nice, how refreshing,” Lance muttered to Jacelynn.

_ This _ was going to be interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! This one was less of a rewrite and more of a revision. Deleted some stuff, changed some dialogue. Fixed some pretty obvious grammar mistakes. Chapter 4 is going to require a bit more work, but I hope to have it out before the end of the month.
> 
> Also, shout out to the two people who left kudos!! Thank you so much, I really appreciate them1!!
> 
> And thank you for reading.


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